New housing activity in Connecticut drops compared to 2016

Published 8:55 pm, Monday, March 27, 2017

New housing activity in Connecticut dropped dramatically last month, down 61.8 percent from February 2016, according to the Department of Economic and Community Development.

Only 157 new housing units were approved last month, compared with 412 in February 2016. Last month was the second-worst February in terms of new housing permit activity in the state in the last 13 years.

Year-to-date, the 447 units approved represents a 19.7 percent decrease over the first two months of last year.

More than one-third of housing units approved in February by communities around the state that report their permit data on monthly basis were issued for single-family homes.

Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said a variety of factors may have led to the dramatic decrease in the number of housing units approved.

“I think many anticipated the upside move in interest rates, and so we may have shifted some activity that would have been seen in 2017 into last year,” Klepper-Smith said Monday. “The health of the local housing markets has a tendency to move in tandem with the health of local labor markets and the New Haven Labor Market Area was down 500 jobs from a year ago.”

Vernon led all Connecticut towns with 20 housing permits issued, according to the DECD. Milford topped the New Haven area with 10 permits issued.